|
THE VIJAYANAGARA KINGS
It may be pointed out that the title Śambuvarāya-sthāpanāchārya is also
borne by Mahāmaṇḍalēśvara Sāvaṇadēva-Mahārāja in two records from
Villiyanūr (Nos. 195 and 196) dated in the cyclic year. Prabhava and Pramādi,
corresponding respectively to Śaka 1309 and Śaka 1321 in which he is also given
the title Mēdini-mīsaragaṇḍa and Kaṭṭāri-Śāḷuva. They register a remission of
taxes granted by the king in favour of the temple of Tirukkāmīśvaram-uḍaiyaNāyanār at Villiyanallūr. He is probably identical with the prince referred to as
the ‘ Kumāra’ of Bukka in inscriptions found at Tiruvaiyāru (Tanjore distrcit)
dated in Śaka 1303 (No. 253 of 1894) and Puñjai-Pugalūr (Coimbatore districk No. 350 of 1928) in this period. Both these records from Villiyanallūr end
with the name ‘Hariharanātha’ in Telugu characters which probably stands
for the royal sign-manual.
Harihara II.
53. From the same village come three records of Ariyaṇa-Uḍaiyar (Harihara
II) dated in Śaka 1301 (Nos. 183 and 184) and Śaka 1303 (No. 194), of which Nos. 194
and 183 refer to the institution by the king
of a festival in the temple of Tirukkāmīś-varam-uḍaiya-Nāyanār in the month of Paṅguni, when the god was taken out to
the sea for bath. The expenses of this service were met by an endowment of 10
mā of land, made tax-free, and by the assignment in favour of the temple, of the
vāl-vari, due to the king. In the Ep. Rep. for 1932-33, p. 71, it was remarked that
the exact nature of the tax-vāla-vari was not known ; but from No. 194 it is clear
that it must be taken as Vāl-vari and that it was a tax levied on animals, the
rates in the time of Harihara II being ½ paṇam on cows, ¾ paṇam, on she-buffaloes
and 1/8 paṇam on sheep. The other inscription of the king (No. 184) registers
a gift of land for maintaining a perpectual lamp by Araiyan Malaippiḷḷai alias
Tennāṭṭaraiyan, a merchant of Ulundai (i.e.,) the modern Uḷundūrpeṭ.
Virupaksha II.
54. An incomplete record in Sanskrit prose (No. 54) from Śrīraṅgam belongs
to the time of Virūpāksha II who is described as the son of Harihara II and Mallāmbikā and the dauhitra of Rāmadēva-Mahā-
rāya of the Yādavakula. The Śoraikkāvūr
plates and the Ālampūṇḍi grant of Virūpāksha are not consistent as to
the relationship of Virūpāksha with Rāmadēva. This Rāmadēva cannot
be identical with the Yādava king Rāmachandra who ruled between 1271
and 1309 A.D., because Harihara II (A.D.1377-1404) could not possibly have been
his son-in-law, and Dr Hultzsch has thrown out a suggestion that perhaps the
Yādava Rāmachandra had a son named Rāma-bhūpati. The present inscription
does not help to solve this point, as it simple states that Virūpāksha was the
dauhitra of Rāmadēva-Mahārāya, who is called ‘ Yādavakula-kamala-mārttaṇḍa.’
Virūpāksha is herein styled Rājā Virūpāksha, but special significance is perhaps
not to the attached to the title Rājā (king), for no records of his as king are found
in the Tamil districts. In this as well as in the other records noted above, he
claims victories over the Chōḷa, Tuṇḍīra and Pāṇḍya territories and is stated to
have invaded Ceylon also. In the course of his southern campaign it is possible
that Virūpāksha paid a visit to Śrīraṅgam ; but from this incomplete record we
cannot say what his donation to this temple was. It may perhaps have been the
gilding of the temple claimed for him in the Soraikkāvūr plates. In the present
epigraph the king is said to have visited the guru Vidyāraṇya whom he appears to
have consulted as to the best means of acquiring merit. As Vidyāraṇya died in
A.D. 1386 (Mys. Archl. Report, 1916, p. 56) this visit must have occurred before
this date. The high position which Vidyāraṇya held in the Vijayanagara court
is known from several record. He was also the special guru of Harihara II
himself (Mys. Archl. Report, 1933. p. 23).
Bukka II, Saka 1328,
55. A record from Vaṇṭyāla, a hamlet of Perḍūtu in the South Kanara distrcit,
belongs to Bukka, son of Harihara II, and is dated in Śaka 1328, Vyaya, (=A.D.
1406, August). The king is stated to have
been ruling from Vijayanagara, while his
governor at Bārakūru was Bāchappa of Goa. This Bāchappa of Bāchaṇṇa-Oḍeya was a governor of Maṅgalūru and Bārakūru rājyas for three years under
Dēvaraya I (No. 609 of 1929-30). The present inscription records a gift of the
village Bramhāra in Bārakūru-nāḍu and certain incomes from other villages includng Kanyāna, Pentama and Beḷamji to Purāṇika Kavi Kṛishṇa-Bhaṭṭa of
Śṛiṅgēri, for the renovation and maintenance of a library (pustakabhaṇḍāra) belonging to the Śṛiṅgēri-maṭha, when Narasimha-Bhārati-Voḍeya of Śriṅgēri who probably succeeded Vidyāraṇya-tīrtha, was its pontiff. This guru is also
|
